Jan 6, 2014

Fresh Start

I’m here to put in writing my starting stats for the New
Year.

No, they’re not pretty, but I’m not going to sit here and
beat myself up about it.

For me, weight loss has never been easy.I work really hard to lose the weight, and it
seems to come back on waaay too easily.Weight loss has never been a linear journey for me, but I’m sure it hasn’t
for most people out there.We’re human,
life happens.

I try to be as honest with you as possible about my
setbacks, because I don’t want to sugarcoat this process; sometimes it sucks,
and it feels like it’s so much easier to just give up.We’re constantly surrounded by images of
famously thin models and actresses who make fitness and a toned physique seem
so easy.I’m learning that a lot of what
we see in print, on TV, in the magazines, has been doctored or photoshopped,
and we’re forced as a society to hold ourselves to this unrealistic standard of
what beauty should be.

I’m here to make a stand against that.

I am not perfect.I
have rolls and stretch marks, and right now I’m pretty damn bloated.But I would never alter an image to make it
seem that I’m anything but what you would see if you met me in person.

I know that because I’ve chosen to put my journey out there,
that you now come to expect that I share all aspects of my journey with
you..even when it’s downright ugly, no matter how embarrassed I might be.

So, yes I’ve gained some weight back.And as embarrassing as it is to admit that on
a weight-loss blog, I have to keep in mind that I’ve come a long way on this
journey.While I know I could have done
better last month, I spent some amazing quality time with my family, friends,
and loved ones, and I chose not to stress out about what I would or wouldn’t
put into my mouth.I got sick,
encountered a nasty Crohn’s flare up (which is still ongoing by the way), and
was embarrassingly lazy about getting workouts in, but December is over, and I’m
looking at January with fresh eyes.

Life happens.Setbacks happen.But the silver
lining about setbacks is that they remind you that this is a journey that has
no end.This is a lifestyle change, and
you can never just “go back” to the way things were before, or your body will
go back there too.So am I proud of
these 2014 starting stats? Right now, no, but I am proud of myself for not
letting a setback define the rest of this journey.This is a starting point, and I will only go
down from here.

2014 Start weight: 189

Goal weight: 158

I have 31 pounds to lose. I am determined and focused,
and these next few weeks are going to be hard as I get back into the swing of
things, but I’m going to do it if it kills me.2014, here I come.